Having a long history of collaboration, Professor Makoto Takahashi, a professor in Geography / Environmental Policy, from the Department of Social and Human Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University for the umpteenth time visited the Faculty of Geography on October 2017 and hosted by the Vice Dean of Research, Community Service and Alumni Cooperation (Dr. Dyah Rahmawati Hizbaron) and the Head of Center for Disaster Study (Dr. Djati Mardiatno). His visit was also part of collaborative research activity which is now being conducted between Nagoya University and Universitas Gadjah Mada entitled International Comparative Study on Mega-earthquake Disasters. Along with his stay, Professor Takahashi also supervised a PhD candidate from Nagoya University, Mr. Dodi WIdiyanto, M.Reg.Dev., one of the Faculty of Geography’s lecturers who is pursuing his doctoral program in Nagoya University.

On Friday, 13 October 2017, Dr. Olga Mavrouli from the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, the Netherlands conducted a guest lecture on Landslide hazard and risk assessment: From assessment to Early Warning. This lecture was attended by more than 60 students coming from undergraduate, master and doctorate level. During her visit, Dr. Mavrouli also supervised two ITC’s students who were conducting their MSc research in Central Java Province focusing on landslide thematic.

From September 16th until October 7th, 2017, the Department of Environmental Geography Universitas Gadjah Mada, more specifically, the Laboratory of Environmental Geomorphology and Disaster Mitigation hosted an expert from Senior Experten Service (SES) Program, Prof. Dr. Thomas G. Schlueter. This program, coordinated by Foundation of German Industry for International Cooperation, gives an opportunity to senior experts from any background study to deliver their knowledge to a far-reaching public.

On October 5, 2017, Prof. dr. Oscar Couwenberg (Dean Faculty of Spatial Sciences, Professor of Governance and Geography), drs. P.J.M. Paul J.M. Steen (Head of International Office, Faculty of Spatial Sciences), Prof. dr. R.L. (Ronald) Holzhacker (Director of Groningen Research Center for South East Asian) visited the Faculty of Geography, UGM. This visit was hosted by the Dean of Faculty of Geography (Prof. Dr. Muh Aris Marfai). It is also attended by the Vice Dean for Research, Cooperation and Community Service (Dr. Dyah Rahmawati Hizbaron), the Director of Partnership, Alumni and Global Initiatives Directorate (Dr. Danang Sri Hadmoko). During this visit, both parties explore the possible future collaboration, for example on the education and research activities. The upcoming visit is planned on January 2018 to discuss about the student exchanges program and double degree master program on Regional Development.

Pada tanggal 29 September 2017, Assoc. Prof. Wataru Takeuchi dari Universitas Tokyo Jepang memberikan kuliah umum pada mahasiswa S1 Kartografi dan Penginderaan Jauh, SV SIGPJ dan S2 Penginderaan Jauh. Kegiatan kuliah umum ini diinisiasi oleh Departemen Sains Informasi Geografi Fakultas Geografi UGM.

Departemen Sains Informasi Geografi Fakultas Geografi UGM bekerja sama dengan PUSPICS Fakultas Geografi UGM dan didukung Ikatan Geograf Indonesia (IGI), selama dua hari, 27-28 September 2017 berhasil menggelar “The 5th Geoinformation Science Symposium 2017”. Kegiatan yang  didukung Masyarakat Ahli Penginderaan Jauh Indonesia (MAPIN), PT. Bhumi Prasaja, PT. Waindo, PT. Citra Gama Sakti dan BNI berlangsung di UC Hotel UGM.

Pada tanggal 25-26 September 2017, S2 Penginderaan Jauh dan Departemen Sains Informasi Geografi Fakultas Geografi UGM mengadakan kegiatan review proposal, perbaikan dan penyelesaian tesis dan disertasi beberapa mahasiswa program studi S2 dan S3 Penginderaan Jauh. Prof. Stuart Phinn dari The University of Queensland diundang sebagai narasumber dan reviewer dalam kegiatan tersebut. Beberapa mahasiswa yang melakukan presentasi dan direview oleh Prof. Stuart Phinn adalah sebagai berikut:

Three lecturers from Department of Geographic Information Science, Dr. Sigit Heru Murti, Dr. Muhammad Kamal, and Dr. Pramaditya Wicaksono attended and presented their research result in SPIE Remote Sensing 2017 conference in Warsaw, Poland. The event was held on 11-14 September 2017. Dr. Sigit Heru Murti presented his research with the title “Mapping agro-ecosystem zone using remote sensing for food security analysis in Bantul district Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta” in Session 5 of Vegetation Monitoring-I on 13 September 2017. Dr. Pramaditya Wicaksono also presented his research with the title “Spectral response of healthy and damaged leaves of tropical seagrass Enhalus acoroides, Thalassia hemprichii, and Cymodocea rotundata” in the same session. Meanwhile, Dr. Muhammad Kamal presented his research with the title “Explicit area-based accuracy assessment for mangrove tree crown delineation using geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA)” in Session 4 of Environmental Monitoring-II on 12 September 2017. The papers they have presented in the conference will be published in the Proceedings of SPIE Remote Sensing, which is indexed by ISI Thomson and Scopus.

The UNESCO-UNITWIN Cooperation Program endeavors towards building the capacities of higher education through collaborating research, knowledge sharing and training in the framework of UNESCO’s UNITWIN. As a part of this UNITWIN Program, the Joint Research on Women’s Empowerment through Leadership Education will particularly contribute to promoting women’s empowerment by raising awareness on the necessity of leadership education for women.

Faculty of Geography Universitas Gadjah Mada has long been involved in Ecosystem-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR). The idea of maintaining collaboration within the Eco-DRR is no longer an option but mandatory since the 2015 Sendai Framework and the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2015) that primarily encourage individual countries to monitor disaster risk reduction and sustainable development performance. The importance of Eco-DRR acquires more attention because alternative solutions to disaster management should not be limited to human resource management in emergency situations, but also need to be extended to natural resource management.